Saturday was a bumper sport's day in the UK, assuming you class the Grand National horse race at Aintree Liverpool as sport. Many Clouds ridden by jockey Leighton Aspell won a second consecutive victory in the race denying A P McCoy a dream ending to his career and giving the bookies plenty to cheer about.

In the South of England the traditional Oxford versus Cambridge boat race played out to a bumper crowd partly due to the good weather but for 2015 the woman's race was staged on the same course as the men's a first in the race's history.

Oxford was champions at the end of the days after winning both races; and in East London Oxford reigned supreme in the less widely publicised Oxford Goat race.

The ever diverse BBC News reported "Two pygmy goats raced 200m at Spitalfield's City Farm near the River Thames, where the university Boat Race has taken place. Hamish secured Oxford's first win in six years, defeating newcomer Hugo, who ran for Cambridge."

In 2014 Hamish represented Cambridge and secured a win so this race has nothing to do with university loyalties and everything to do with fun.

Unlike the Grand National animal cruelty was not part of the race although presumably the goats had no choice in whether to race or not. Actually no - the race simply incorporates their daily life.

The short race, appropriate for short-legged pygmy goats, runs from the farm's paddock to the stables and the record stands at 56 seconds.

The winner receives an edible trophy.

Farm manager Mhairi Weir told BBC News: "Our goats race every single day, because they're down in the paddock during the day and then they're taken back up to the stables for their food - they're always in a rush." If the goats choose to race at a leisurely snail's pace, then that's fine by us."

The Grand National organisers could learn a great deal from this fun race. Tickets to watch the race sell well and the money raised goes to charity. Last year they raised £10,000 and could easily surpass that figure this year.

And guess what? The money raised in 2014 covered the cost of feeding livestock for a whole year.

With this race going global thanks in part to the Internet it is likely to have a great future.

Ms Weir said "It's fantastic how it's caught everybody's imagination... I even got an email from ABC, American Broadcasting Company, who wanted to come and video it."

Spitalfield’s City Farm

The farm’s website says "Spitalfield’s City Farm is the nearest city farm to the square mile.

The runners 2015

Despite this, the farm is located in one of the most deprived and densely populated wards of Tower Hamlets (DOE 1996); although Spitalfield’s remains a vibrant and colourful multi-cultural area with strong community links."

School children regularly visit the farm which means the animals are used to crowds and 'people' attention.

"Spitalfield’s City Farm was originally set up by volunteers in 1978 and we still rely on volunteers today to help maintain the farm and gardens, look after the animals and assist us delivering projects. In short, without volunteers there would be no farm. Come down and visit the animals and get involved in a variety of activities. Volunteering, team building, or school trips."

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